Something that on the surface is its literal self but which also has another meaning or even several meanings. For example, a sword may be a sword and also symbolize justice. A symbol may be said to embody an idea. There are two general types of symbols: universal symbols that embody universally recognizable meanings wherever used, such as light to symbolize knowledge, a skull to symbolize death, etc., and constructed symbols that are given symbolic meaning by the way an author uses them in a literary work, as the white whale becomes a symbol of evil in Moby Dick.
Example Poem:
"Hope" is the thing with Feathers-
by: Emily Dickinson
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I've heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
How the Symbol Is Used:
Symbolism was used through words that should have been something along the lines like a bird. But when reading it you notice that if you were to replace words such as hope and soul with bird and cage, it becomes a poem about a bird, not hope. When you put symbols to it like sings without words and never stops at all. You show how “Hope” is like a bird.
Definition:
Something that on the surface is its literal self but which also has another meaning or even several meanings. For example, a sword may be a sword and also symbolize justice. A symbol may be said to embody an idea. There are two general types of symbols: universal symbols that embody universally recognizable meanings wherever used, such as light to symbolize knowledge, a skull to symbolize death, etc., and constructed symbols that are given symbolic meaning by the way an author uses them in a literary work, as the white whale becomes a symbol of evil in Moby Dick.
Example Poem:
"Hope" is the thing with Feathers-
by: Emily Dickinson
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I've heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
How the Symbol Is Used:
Symbolism was used through words that should have been something along the lines like a bird. But when reading it you notice that if you were to replace words such as hope and soul with bird and cage, it becomes a poem about a bird, not hope. When you put symbols to it like sings without words and never stops at all. You show how “Hope” is like a bird.